1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a braking control device that is provided with a hydraulic pressure circuit for applying a master cylinder hydraulic pressure generated by a master cylinder to the wheel cylinders of each vehicle wheel, and an assist hydraulic pressure generation mechanism for adding an assist hydraulic pressure to the master cylinder hydraulic pressure using the pressure of a pump in the hydraulic pressure circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a braking control device such as the one described above, the master cylinder amplifies the brake operation force of the driver to generate a master cylinder hydraulic pressure, and applies the master cylinder hydraulic pressure to the wheel cylinders. Providing an assist hydraulic pressure generation mechanism having a pump, control valves, and other components makes it possible to apply an assist hydraulic pressure in addition to the master cylinder hydraulic pressure to the wheel cylinders.
In a conventional braking control device, until the hydraulic pressure generation timing at which the assist hydraulic pressure is generated, only the master cylinder hydraulic pressure is applied to the wheel cylinders. When the hydraulic pressure generation timing is reached, the assist hydraulic pressure generation mechanism is activated, and the assist hydraulic pressure is applied to the wheel cylinders in addition to the master cylinder hydraulic pressure (see Patent Documents 1 and 2, for example).
In the braking control device disclosed in Patent Document 1, a booster device is provided for amplifying the brake operating force and inputting the amplified force to the master cylinder, and the time at which the brake operating force exceeds the boost limit at which the booster device no longer boosts the brake operating force to a prescribed ratio is detected as the hydraulic pressure generation timing.
In the braking control device disclosed in Patent Document 2, the time at which the current vehicle wheel deceleration becomes greater than a prescribed deceleration, or the time at which the operation amount of the brake pedal becomes greater than a prescribed operation amount is detected as the hydraulic pressure generation timing.    [Patent Document 1] JP (Kokai) No. 9-30385    [Patent Document 2] JP (Kokai) No. 9-323641